Matt Daehler
Matt Daehler was an antagonist and supporting character in Season 2 of Teen Wolf. He was first introduced as an amateur photographer who was acting like a paparazzo at Kate Argent's funeral, and whose camera was broken by Gerard Argent after he crossed the press barricade to take better pictures of Allison Argent, the object of his stalker-ish romantic obsession. He appeared to be a mundane high school student and lacrosse player at first, until it was revealed that he had actually become the master of Jackson Whittemore during his time as a Kanima. It was also revealed that he was using Jackson to kill the attendants of a pool party at the Lahey House when he was a child, who indirectly caused him to nearly drown to death, a traumatic experience from which Matt never fully emotionally recovered. To make matters worse, since Matt was breaking the rules of the supernatural by using the Kanima to kill people who weren't murderers and was actually killing people himself, Matt started to turn into a Kanima as well, worrying Matt so much that he decided to seek out the Argent Bestiary for answers as to what was happening to him. In Fury, Matt, armed with a loaded handgun, infiltrated the Sheriff's station, using Jackson to kill the Sheriff's deputies working at the time and paralyzing both Stiles Stilinski and Derek Hale so they couldn't help Scott McCall and Sheriff Stilinski fight him. After forcing Sheriff to get rid of all of the evidence that incriminated Matt in the murders, Gerard Argent, Chris Argent, and Allison Argent invaded the station as well, forcing him to flee to safety. Unfortunately for him, Gerard secretly followed him outside and drowned him in the nearby lake, which allowed him to take control of Jackson himself and use him for his own vendetta. Matt was a student at Beacon Hills High School and an amateur photographer for the Beacon Hills Cyclones lacrosse team. Early Life Aside from Matt's near-death experience as a child, his life prior to his introduction is virtually unknown. What Matt did reveal about his early life was that when he was a young child, he was good friends with Isaac Lahey, with whom he bonded over comics. One night in 2006, when he was around eight or nine years old, he went to Isaac's house to trade comic books with Isaac on a night when Mr. Lahey had invited the swim team that he coached, who had recently won the championships, to the house for a pool party. At some point, Isaac and Matt made their way outside to the party, where Mr. Lahey had allowed the team to drink alcohol and where they had become pretty rowdy. Isaac's brother Camden, who was on the swim team, drunkenly grabbed Matt and threw him in the pool despite his desperate protests that he couldn't swim. He fell below the surface of the water and tried to plead for help, but no one was paying attention to him because they were too busy hooking up with each other. Finally, right before Matt could drown to death, Mr. Lahey pulled him out of the water and performed CPR. However, he was furious that Matt's near-drowning could possibly get him and the team in trouble, and blamed Matt for what happened as a result of his inability to swim before bullying him into not telling anyone about the party, the alcohol, and his near-death experience. Matt did as he was told and didn't tell anyone what happened until right before he died at Gerard Argent's hands. The trauma of the event caused him to have nightmares where he was drowning, and he would awaken in the middle of the night and have panic attacks, which his parents mistakenly believed were asthma attacks, leading them to take him to the doctor to be prescribed an inhaler. He would subsequently hold intense grudges against Mr. Lahey, Camden Lahey, and the rest of the 2006 swim team until he became the Kanima Master in 2011, allowing him to get his vengeance on him. ( ) Throughout Teen Wolf Personality On the surface, Matt appeared to be an average teenage boy, who had many friends, was a player on the lacrosse team, and had a passion for photography. However, it was soon revealed that he had become vengeful, unhinged, and obsessive as a result of nearly drowning to death as a child. This traumatic event initially caused him to develop hydrophobia (fear of water) and panic attacks, which ultimately grew into an insatiable desire to get revenge on those who harmed him. Upon becoming the master of Jackson Whittemore during his time as a Kanima, a mythological reptilian creature who was used as a weapon of vengeance to kill murderers, he used Jackson to kill all of the people who were involved in his near-drowning, as he believed them to be murderers due to their disregard for his life. During this killing spree, he demonstrated a lack of concern about the lives he was taking, as he felt his actions were justified due to the wrongs they committed against him. He also proved he had no problem with breaking the metaphysical laws of the supernatural when, after Jackson was unable to kill a pregnant woman due to the fact that the child was innocent, Matt killed the woman himself just hours after she gave birth. He was willing to do whatever it took to destroy the evidence that proved he was the killer and to gain access to the Bestiary to figure out why he was becoming a Kanima himself, even if it meant harming or killing people who had not wrong him at all, such as the numerous Sheriff's deputies he made Jackson kill, or Scott McCall, who he shot in the abdomen to force his mother Melissa to comply with his demands. He also demonstrated a similar behaviors with regards to his romantic feelings for Allison Argent, whom he stalked and took hundreds of pictures of without her knowledge throughout the time they knew each other. He became incredibly jealous of any other men who showed interest in her, such as Scott and Jackson, and when Allison rejected his advances, he had Jackson paralyze her and attempted to kill her, claiming that if he couldn't have her, no one could. Physical Appearance Matt was a reasonably attractive young man of medium build and stature, who had pale white skin, light brown hair, and light blue eyes. He typically dressed in a trendy yet comfortable style, with v-neck tshirts in shades of blue or other neutral colors, well-fitting jeans, leather boots, and hoodies or blazers. He also, like most members of the lacrosse team, often wore his lacrosse jersey on game days. Powers and Abilities Powers At first, Matt, as a human, had no supernatural powers to speak of, but upon bonding with the recently-turned Kanima, Jackson Whittemore, Matt became Jackson's master, giving him a telepathic connection with him that bound them so closely that Jackson, the captain of the swim team, inherited Matt's fear of water. Initially, this connection was tied to Matt's love of photography; it manifested when Matt would take a photograph of someone who Matt wanted to die, which would send a telepathic image of the person to Jackson so he could carry out their murder for Matt. Over time, their connection only became stronger, to the point where all Matt had to do was think about who he wanted to kill in order to have Jackson fulfill his wishes, making taking a photo of the person unnecessary to the order and giving Matt an increasing amount of control over the Kanima. Matt was even eventually able to speak to Stiles Stilinski, Isaac Lahey, and Erica Reyes through Jackson's mouth via their master-subjugate connection, despite Matt being nowhere near Jackson at the time. However, after Matt began breaking the metaphysical rules of the Kanima, such as having Jackson kill people who weren't murderers and killing non-murderers himself, Matt began to transform into a Kanima himself, evidenced by the fact that he was starting to develop reptilian scales on his side. Despite this transformation, Matt did not demonstrate any other Kanima powers, such as superhuman physical attributes (strength, speed, agility/reflexes, durability, senses, healing) or more advanced shapeshifting, and since he was killed shortly afterward, it can be assumed that he was only in the early stages of the transformation. Abilities *'Photography': Matt had a passion for photography, and was not only skilled in the artistic side of the hobby, but also the technical aspect. He was very knowledgeable about camera attachments and lighting equipment, and was shown using telephoto lenses in order to take photographs of Allison Argent through her bedroom window from outside the house. This ability also extended to cinematography as well, as he was able to help Danny Mahealani figure out that the footage of Jackson Whittemore's first full moon had been tampered with (although it was later revealed that he was the one who tampered with it in the first place to ensure that Jackson wouldn't realize that he was being controlled). *'Firearms Training': Since Matt was seen wielding and shooting a handgun, it can be assumed that he had at least a basic understanding of how guns work and how to use them, as he was able to shoot Scott in the side with the gun with an impressive amount of accuracy for a teenager. *'Criminal Skills': As the person who orchestrated the Kanima murders, Matt was able to avoid detection by the police for several months despite being at the scene of nearly all of the crimes, though this is probably due in part to the fact that few police officers would have expected a teenage boy to be a serial killer. He was smart enough to break into Adrian Harris' car and use it to drive to the sites of the murders to ensure that Jackson was able to kill them as planned so that the police would assume it was Harris rather than himself, and he seemed to be surveying the Beacon County Sheriff's Station so that he would know if and when he was discovered to be the mastermind behind the murders. Weaknesses Matt was, for the most part, a mundane human, and as a result, he possessed the common vulnerabilities of his species, namely mortality, as he was prone to both illness and injury that could lead to death. However, as the Kanima Master, Matt gained supernatural weaknesses as well, most notably a vulnerability to mountain ash, since his connection to the supernatural Jackson Whittemore made it so that he could be trapped in an unbroken circle of mountain ash, which was evidenced in Raving. Equipment *Digital camera with additional SIM card, telephoto lens, and wifi access *Samsung Galaxy 3 smartphone with UStream application Etymology *'Matt': The name Matt is the short form of Matthew, the English form of the name Ματθαιος (Matthaios), which itself is the Greek form of the Hebrew name מַתִּתְיָהוּ (Mattityahu), meaning "gift of Yahweh" or "gift of God." The Greek name was also Latinized as Matthaeus, which is what led to the English name Matthew. It is also sometimes thought to be an Anglicization of the Irish name Mathún, meaning "bear." Saint Matthew, also known as Levi, was one of the twelve apostles, a tax collector who was thought to be the author of the first Gospel in the New Testament. The name Matthew as an English name has been in use since the Middle Ages. **Variants of the name in other languages include: Matia (Basque); Matthaois, Matthias (Biblical Greek); Matey (Bulgarian); Mateu, Matej, Mateo, Matija, Matko, Mato (Croatian); Matthias, Mathijs, Ties (Dutch); Makaio (Hawaiian); Mateusz, Maciej (Polish); Matheus, Matias (Portuguese); Matei (Romanian); Matfey, Matvei, Motya (Russian); Mateo, Matías (Spanish). *'Daehler': Daehler is thought to be a Swedish family name, but a meaning for this surname remains unknown at this time. Trivia *It was because of Matt's actions at the Sheriff's station in Fury that caused Scott McCall's transformation into a Werewolf to be revealed his mother Melissa, who was also one of Matt's hostages. *Ironically, Matt went on his vendetta using Jackson as a weapon of vengeance to get back at the members of the 2006 high school swim team for letting him almost drown as a child, but this ultimately led him to be permanently killed in the exact same manner when Gerard Argent drowned him in the lake to end his reign of terror as the Kanima Master and to take control of the Kanima for himself. **Because he almost drowned as a child due to not being able to swim, Matt became afraid of large bodies of water, which was also passed to the Kanima when Matt was in control of Jackson. Once Gerard took control of the Kanima after Matt's death, Jackson no longer had a fear of water. Gallery 2x01_Matt_at_grave_yard.png 2x02_Matt_and_Jackson.jpg 2x07_soaking_Matt.png 2x08_Matt_and_jackson.png 2x10_Matt_at_station.jpg 2x10_Matt_becoming_a_Kanima.png 2x11_Matt_dead.jpg S2_Matt.jpg Category:Male Characters Category:Supporting Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Humans Category:Kanimas Category:Deceased Characters Category:Season 2 Characters Category:Kanima Masters Category:Beacon Hills High School Students